Hydraulic turbine



June 15 1926.

' R. O. COUCH HYDRAULIC TURBINE Fil'd Nov. 27, 192i 2 Sheets-Sheet 1' mvm'roR v ATTORNEY w z N W W I WITNESS June 15 1926. 1,588,528

I R. o. COUCH HYDRAULI C T URB IN E Filed Nov. 27. 1922 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 15, 1926.

UNITED STATES ROYDEN O. COUCH, 0F GRANT, FLORIDA.

HYDRAULIC TURBINE.

application filed November 27, 1922. Serial No. 603,589.

This invention relates to an hydraulic turbine, the general object of the invention being to produce a device of this nature which will have great efficiency, one which is capable of high speed and the parts of which are compactly arranged so as to cocupy the minimum amount of space.

Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby the rotor creates a vacuum in the case, thus eliminating back pressure and assisting the flow.

This invention also consists in certain other features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and specifically pointed out in the appended claim.

In describing my invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a Vertical sectional View taken substantially on the line 1-1, Fig. 2.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the turbine.

In these views, 1 indicates a substantially circular casing which is provided with a central inlet 2 and a tangential outlet 3. Heretofore spiral casings have been used with turbines for the purpose of maintaining a constant velocity with a reduced water volume, in which case the tangential outlet 3 was used as the inlet and the central inlet 2 was used as the outlet. In my present invention I reverse the operation for the purpose of decreasing the velocity of the water after it leaves the rotor and utilize the casing as a draft tube as will be further described hereinafter. The Shaft 4 extends through the packing box 5 in one end of the casing and this shaft has connected with its end the rotary member 6 which is arranged within the casing and has its cylindrical part 6 surrounding the inner end of the cylindrical distributor 7. This distributor receives the fluid entering the inlet 2 and this fluid is directed to the openings 8 in the distributor by the cone-shaped part 9 at the end of the distributor. These openings are formed by the guide vanes 10 and said openings deliver the fluid to the openings in the rotary member which are formed by the blades 11. As will be seen the inner ends of the vanes of the rotor are curved on a short radius, as shown at 12, to allow the fluid to enter fromthe distributor free from impact. The construction of the blades of the rotor and distributor gives an angle of discharge of about 140 ,to the angle of entrance. This gives the fiuid an entrance free of impact of a wide range of speed for a given head and the etficiency of the turbine does not suffer as much as if the blades were flat and designed to obtain an entrance free of impact at a certain speed under a certain head. The outer ends of the blades of the rotor are at such an angle as to obtain a maximum tangential discharge velocity. V

The rotor 6 travels in the direction of the arrow C. The relative velocity of the water discharging from the blades 11' is indicated at D. The peripheral velocity of the rotor at the discharge end of the blades 11 is indicated at E and the resultant ofthese velocities, indicated at F, represents the final velocity of the water. From this it will be seen that the final velocity of the water is ina direction opposite to the rotation of the rotor. The water so discharged from the rotor with a maximum tangential veloc-' ity, has a definite amount of energy which decreases until it reaches zero, the zero points being at some point beyond the ends of runner blades 11 but before the water reaches the casing 1, as indicated by the dotted line X in Fig. 2. The reaction of this velocity on the rotor produces an additional torque in a well understood manner. The water between the rotor 6 and the line X in the space marked A travels in the direction of the arrow Y. The space between the line X and the inner surface of the casing 1 marked B gradually increases in spiral form as shown. In this space E, the water flows in the same direction in which the rotor 6 rotates and in a direction opposite to that in which the water in' spaceA travels. Since thearea of space B progressively increases, the velocity of the water will decrease uniformly until it is discharged from the casing, the casing acting precisely as a draft tube which is well known in the art.

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages and novel features of my invention will be readily apparent.

I desire it to be understood that I may make changes in the construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, provided that such changes'fall within the scope of the appended" claim.

What I claim is In an hydraulic turbine, an'outer casing having a substantially circular fOIHLiIl crosssection and provided. with a central inlet and a tangential outlet, a rotor'project'ing into said casing and eccentric therewith and supported from one side-wall"thereotfsaid rotor containing a series of curved vanes adapted to discharge the water outwardly at an acute angle to thecircu n'ference of said rotor, a fixed conical distrihiitor within and concentric with said rotor and supported from the opposite side saidfcasing, said'distributor being provided with an annular series of vanes surrounding said inlet adapted to rotata-hl'y' support said rotor.

In testimony whereof ,I afiig; only signaturte. r. 7.. l

B rer Q- same. 

